Professors slam change to water fluoridation policy

Two of the country’s leading professors of community dentistry disputed Health
Minister Yael German’s claim that approved levels of fluoride consumed in
drinking water can cause thyroid disease in chronically ill patients or harm to
pregnant women.

Prof. Harold Sgan-Cohen and Prof. Jonathan Mann of
the Hebrew University Dental School’s Department of Community Dentistry said,
“According to all mainstream, professional and scientific data from around the
world and within Israel, fluoride in general and in water specifically, is the
most efficient, cheapest and safest measure of dental health promotion that
reaches across the socio-economic spectrum.”

Last week, German signed a
law that will make fluoridation by the local authorities optional and not
mandatory except in very low-population locations.

In her previous
position as mayor of Herzliya, the minister had additionally objected to
fluoridating all water supplies when children are mainly the ones to
benefit.

On Wednesday, German replied to the professors’ objection to her
policy in a letter, saying that the new regulations, setting water quality and
not requiring fluoridation, will take effect in a year.

She insisted that
it was better to provide fluoride in other ways to “target audiences” such as
poor children, who were unlikely to brush their teeth regularly with fluoride
toothpaste.

“It must be known to you that fluoridation can cause harm to
the health of the chronically ill and pregnant women,” German wrote in the
letter.

She argued that only 2% of water is used for drinking by the
population, with the rest used for dishwashing, bathing, industry and other
uses.

Ministry public health officials have privately been grinding their
teeth over German’s decision, as the ministry has for decades endorsed
fluoridation. Ministry director-general Ronni Gamzu publicly said that he will
have to find other ways to deliver fluoride to specific populations who need
it.

The Hebrew University professors said, “We strongly support water
fluoridation and believe that the idea of the health minister to potentially
stall [within a year] the continued national fluoridation project is an immense
error.”

“A recent study conducted in Israel, among a representative
sample of 2,181 children, clearly demonstrated that water fluoridation is
dramatically associated with diminishing and even eliminating social
inequalities in dental health, especially among low socioeconomic communities,”
the professors said.

“This is, therefore, a classic example of social
justice in action. Since the initiation of water fluoridation in Israel, our
research has clearly revealed a significant decrease in dental caries. Every
effort should be made not to arrest this positive trend and this highly
important achievement.”

The professors continued that “as academic public
health dentists, based on our knowledge, experience and research, we believe
that this potential policy shift would constitute a huge disservice to the
public. There is not a single medical document testifying to [any damage from
fluoride]. It is clear that if there were even just a small hint of harm, US
fluoridation of drinking water would be halted.”

On Monday, US
Surgeon-General Regina Benjamin – the highest medical authority in America –
officially endorsed community water fluoridation.

“It is one of the most
effective choices communities can make to prevent health problems while actually
improving the oral health of their citizens. Fluoridation’s effectiveness in
preventing tooth decay is not limited to children, but extends throughout life,
resulting in fewer and less severe cavities,” Benjamin wrote. “In fact, each
generation born since the implementation of water fluoridation has enjoyed
better dental health than the generation that preceded it.”

Every
surgeon-general for the past 50 years has endorsed fluoridation of community
water supplies as a safe and effective weapon in the war against tooth decay.
The American Dental Association has supported fluoridation since
1950.

“The ADA’s policies regarding community water fluoridation are
based on the best available science showing that fluoridation is a safe,
effective way to prevent dental decay,” ADA president Dr. Robert A. Faiella
said.

“The ADA, along with state and local dental societies, continues to
work with federal, state and local agencies to increase the number of
communities benefiting from this very effective public health
measure.”

“We applaud Dr. Benjamin for making this public endorsement of
fluoridation,” Faiella said.

An authoritative source in the British
Medical Journal, asked to explain why Britain does not require fluoridation,
told The Jerusalem Post that “most sensible, intelligent, well-informed people
here in the UK think fluoridation of the water is a very sensible idea but a
very vocal minority of cranks have campaigned against it for so long and so
vociferously that all attempts to introduce it here [except in the west
Midlands] have come to nothing. Dentists say it is a bit less important now that
fluoride has been added to toothpaste, but obviously some poor kids in very
deprived homes don’t brush their teeth.”

Your comment must be approved by a moderator before being published on JPost.com.
Disqus users can post comments automatically.

Comments must adhere to our Talkback policy. If you believe that a comment has breached the Talkback policy, please press the flag icon to bring it to the attention of our moderation team.